Biography
“Shirley is a time traveller, a conduit for essential human aches, one of the greatest artists who ever lived, and yet utterly humble” - Stewart Lee.
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is an English folk singer, song collector and perhaps the greatest living embodiment of the musical threads that connect the country with its history. As a significant presence during the Second English Folk Revival, Shirley formed a duo with her sister Dolly, who accompanied Shirley's raw and direct voice on piano and portative organ; together they recorded the startling Anthems In Eden and Love, Death & The Lady. Following a period of silence spanning three decades during which she barely sang, Shirley released Lodestar, her first new material since 1978. The record is a collection of English, American and Cajun songs dating from the 16th Century to the 1950s, recorded at Shirley’s home in Lewes, East Sussex - the work of an icon of British music who has never stopped exploring the power of the voice.
Latest Release
Shirley Collins Crowlink
EP | 30th July 2021
Crowlink is a collection of songs sung by Shirley Collins in the heart of the South Downs, with field records from the edge of the cliff at Crowlink, Firle Church and from Etchingham. Recorded look out to sea, listening to the song of the skylarks, the wind whipping through the bent over trees, the waves crashing against the white cliffs, the pull of the tide across chalk, shingle and stone.
Latest Release
Shirley Collins Crowlink
EP | 30th July 2021
Album Description
Crowlink is a collection of songs sung by Shirley Collins in the heart of the South Downs, with field records from the edge of the cliff at Crowlink, Firle Church and from Etchingham. Recorded look out to sea, listening to the song of the skylarks, the wind whipping through the bent over trees, the waves crashing against the white cliffs, the pull of the tide across chalk, shingle and stone.
